Exhibition Into the Ring! - En piste ! - Press release

Exhibition from June 15th, 2013 to January 5th, 2014
« Into the Ring ! »
A parade of the most beautiful circus costumes
under the big top of the CNCS…
En
p ste!
les plus beaux
costumes de
cirque
Moulins Allier Auvergne
www.cncs.fr / 04 70 20 76 20
En coproduction avec
Montage realised based on several costumes presented in the exhibition Into the Ring !
© Design: Atalante-Paris. CNCS / Photos Pascal François.
Montage réalisé à partir de plusieurs costumes présentés dans l’exposition En piste !
© cncs Photos Pascal François / Conception : Atalante-Paris
Exposition
du 15 juin 2013
au 5 janvier
2014
At the Centre national du costume de scène et de la scénographie, Moulins;
A co-production with the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Exhibition curators: Joëlle Garcia, head curator at the Performing Arts,
Department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France; and Delphine Pinasa,
director of the Centre national du costume de scène.
Catalogue: Pascal Jacob, historian and specialist in circus costumes.
Like the parade when the circus comes to town, this exhibition will present, for the first time, magnificent costumes
and finery from the greatest circus companies in the world. In their braided coats or leotards, decorated with painted motifs, embroidery and sequins – ringmasters, tragic and comic clowns, horse riders, acrobats, jugglers, animal
tamers, trapeze artists and tightrope walkers will embody the magic of circus art in a flurry of color and light. The
CNCS invites visitors to discover this universe from the first appearance of the modern circus in the 18th century to
the mutations of the contemporary circus.
Elements presented in the exhibition
Costumes, accessories, trunks, paintings, photographs, posters, costume and makeup models, audiovisual documents, interviews with artists, costume designers and costume makers will be presented
at the CNCS. These works come from the most prestigious circuses and circus families in the world:
Fratellini, Bouglione, Cirque Plume, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Phénix, Franco Dragone Entertainment
Group. They come from the circuses themselves, but also from the rich collections of the Bibliothèque
nationale de France, notably from the Performing Arts Department, as well as from private collectors,
costume designers and craftsmen.
Backstage at the circus
To supplement the presentation of the wardrobe of these emblematic characters, the exhibition will
bring visitors backstage. From the conception of the costume to its making, the talent of true craftsmen
and traditional and more contemporary processes will be highlighted; as well as the indispensable
complements of makeup, wigs, masks, shoes… An artist’s dressing room will evoke the physical transformation of the artist into a character ready to elicit laughter and emotion. With this presentation, the
exhibition will also show the evolution of costumes used in the different acts, borrowing from military
art as well as from ballet; from the fashion of exoticism as well as from history and contemporary art.
Flower clown costume, Au pays des
clowns, from Pascal Jacob, Cirque Phénix
Junior, 2003, Coll. Jacob-William.
© CNCS / Photo Pascal François.
Costume of François Fratellini (18791951) in blue silk fabric with painted
motifs. Coll. Valérie Fratellini.
© CNCS / Photo Pascal François.
The fantastic history of the circus
From its origins in equestrian art in the mid 17th Century England, the circus spread throughout the
entire western world and as far as the United States, Africa and China, creating a form of colorful
popular show in perpetual renewal based on the elements which forged its identity: the ring, the big
top, risk, prowess, laughter. Throughout its history the circus has been movement and metamorphosis, creating a very technical, demanding and spectacular art of costume.
Clown costume of Valérie Fratellini,
Coll. Valérie Fratellini.
© CNCS / Photo Pascal François.
PRESS RELATIONS : HEYMANN, RENOULT ASSOCIEES
Sarah Heymann, Eleonora Alzetta – Tél. +33 (0) 1 44 61 76 76 - [email protected]
www.heymann-renoult.com (downloadable documents and illustrations)
BnF - Claudine Hermabessière - [email protected]
Lisa Pénisson - [email protected]
The Performing Arts Department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France
The mission of the Performing Arts Department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France is to collect,
preserve, catalogue and give access to the memory of all forms of the performing arts - manuscripts, models, costumes and
objects, photographs, audiovisual documents, posters, drawings and prints, programs and press cuttings, as well as books
and magazines. The Department preserves also a large number of playwrights, stage directors, actors, set and costume
designers, performance places, festivals and companies. All the expressions of living performing art are represented:
theater, circus, dance, marionettes, cabaret, street theater, cinema, television and radio.
For more information: www.bnf.fr
The Centre national du costume de scène et de la scénographie (CNCS)
The CNCS opened in July 2006 in Moulins in Auvergne and is the first conservation centre in France or abroad entirely
devoted to material theatrical heritage. It has become a place not to be missed for all lovers of theatre arts. After appearing
in their final productions at the Opéra national de Paris, the Comédie-Française and numerous other theatre companies,
the costumes arrive at the center for a second life during which they will never again be worn but will be conserved,
studied and exhibited. The visitor to the CNCS is thus invited to dive backstage into the heart of the greatest theatres and
opera houses, where productions are born.
The collections
The CNCS conserves the most prestigious collections in the world, on deposit from its three founding
institutions - the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Comédie-Française and the Opéra national de
Paris as well as costumes donated to the CNCS by costume designers, theatres, theatre and dance companies,
artists and their families. Today, more than 10,000 costumes and accessories are conserved in the ultramodern reserves of this 18th century cavalry barracks: the costumes worn by Maria Callas in Norma in 1964,
Jean Marais’s armour in Britannicus in 1952, the tutus by Christian Lacroix for Les Anges ternis in 1987, the
costumes by Philippe Découflé for the Olympic Games in Albertville in 1992 and many more. The Centre national de
costume de scène et de la scénographie (CNCS) is situated in Moulins in the Allier department and occupies a part of
the Quartier Villars, a cavalry barracks dating from the end of the 18th century which has been classified as a Historic
Monument. The restoration of the barracks building was accompanied by the construction of a new building for the reserves
of the collection, designed by the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte.
Practical informations
Press visit and exhibition preview on Friday June 14th (by invitation).
Open every day from 10am to 6pm and until 7pm in July and August.
Closed on December 25th, 2013. The CNCS will be open until 4pm on December 24th and 31st.
Quartier Villars, Route de Montilly, 03000 Moulins.
Tél. +33 4 70 20 76 20 / [email protected] / www.cncs.fr
The CNCS is situated in Moulins in the Auvergne region, in a cavalry barracks dating from the 18th century, classified Historic Monument. © C. Pulvéry
PRESS RELATIONS : HEYMANN, RENOULT ASSOCIEES
Sarah Heymann, Eleonora Alzetta – Tél. +33 (0) 1 44 61 76 76 - [email protected]
www.heymann-renoult.com (downloadable documents and illustrations)
BnF - Claudine Hermabessière - [email protected]
Lisa Pénisson - [email protected]